Installing White Oak Floor without an Floor Nailer

[@greggadler3128]

Buy an air driven floor nailer. Bostich is the pro level, I got a Freeman at a garage sale for $30 almost new and it works great. The time saved is worth the investment. I'm 50% of the way through 1000 SF of No. 1 Cabin Grade Hickory. Drill and screw would take forever. the rule at my house is every major DIY project gets a new tool. 9 amp Drill, air tools, whatever it takes to do the job professionally. The money I save on the tools is more than recovered in the finished product value added to my property. Plus the pride of doing it yourself. 1/3 materials, 2/3 labor is the standard I use. My $5000 in flooring is a $15,00 job. Buy good tools you're money ahead on the project all ready and it makes the work much less challenging. Floor jacks are a must when you get close to the edges. Beats wedging and pounding. And you can use a 2x4 and push together those challenging boards in the middle of the floor too.

[@shantor100]

Typically people don't use the ward an when its needed but it doesn't belong here. Floor looks great

[@RONMAYS71]

Very nice explanations, I will be buying Fin Trims Screws for my flooring

[@Me-lj1rk]

great job...doing the same thing...nice to see how to do without nailer...

[@tricatfilms6136]

working barefoot! LOVE IT. I'm an 80s kid.

[@davidfrederick1613]

About how many screws did you use? I’m looking to do about 280 sq ft.

[@oaklandermovingpictures9632]

Very helpful, thanks. I've got a 10x20 room to do with 3/4" T&G oak and am debating whether to buy/rent the nailer + compressor. I think now I'll try your method as I have time! My subfloor is 3/4" planks from the 1940s. I see you're using 2 1/2" screws. Are you always screwing the floor over a joist? Also, do you have a rule of thumb about how far apart the screws should be and lastly how close they can be to the end of a piece of the oak floor? I've read online, nail every 8" and no closer than 3" from an end. If I do that, a lot of 2 1/2" screws will not be grabbing much. Hope that makes sense. Any further info appreciated.

[@megdahlin1118]

Thanks for posting this comment-I'll be two years behind you and same situation as yours.

[@MortusNyte]

Pretty sure you can forget about expansion gaps if you use screws as that pretty much eliminates all possibilities for the wood to expand and contract as it should. Floor staples are engineered to be flexible and allow the wood some wiggle room Using white oak at least it shouldnt want to move too much with proper humidity check Must of taken quite some time

[@strjourneys7919]

No such thing as floor expansion. That's all nonsense to sell add ons!

[@jorangel87]

Doing to stair landing wondering if I can use brad nailer instead dont our method as long as it don’t split the wood. Same size and unfinished wood.

[@tkeosaksith]

I think that tongue piece is called a spline.

[@postbeam8200]

You are correct!

[@kether800]

What kind of drill is that

[@Evadization]

The drill he used for the pilot holes is a Festool. Festool tools are crazy expensive, which makes it surprising to me that he owns one but decided to skimp on a floor nailer (which would speed up the floor installation by many hour as opposed to drilling pilot holes and using screws).

[@kether800]

oh its a festool lmfao okay this guy spent $300 on a drill that does the same thing as a $50 drill I wont take any advice from this video this guy is clearly clueless

[@joshdillingham1598]

So every master craftsman uses Ryobi?

[@kether800]

@@joshdillingham1598 This guy is not a master craftsman he is a DIYer instaling hardwood floors in his home. A master craftman will usually use dewalt, milwaukee, or makita. (all half the cost of festool for the same performance)